How-To: 5 Steps to Take Care of Your Singing Voice Before Performance

By Jesse NeoSep 1st, 2019

Your singing voice is your precious commodity, so you have to learn how to take care of it properly. Just like any other skill, you will have to train yourself to maintain the good quality of your voice. Singing is also a skill that can be acquired through training.

Athletes train hard to be able to remain competitive, and it's no different when singing. You will have to practice and strengthen those vocal cords so you can sing well.

But how can you take care of your voice? Continue reading to learn these techniques.

1. Before singing, know how to warm up your voice

This is important as your voice would most likely crack when you don't do warm-ups. You can start with easy and lower notes to ease your vocal cords into the next more strenuous exertion that you would perform. When you don't warm up your vocal cords, this can result eventually to injury and permanent damage.

2. Hydrate yourself often

For a singer, keeping yourself hydrated by drinking water is recommended. Water can also help soothe your throat while performing, and help replace the water you have lost from sweating.

3. Rest when needed

You should rest in between your training or practices, when you feel your voice straining. Your voice can get hoarse and you may experience a sore throat. You have to consult your doctor and follow his/her advice. Don't use your voice unnecessarily, such as shouting repeatedly, or talking endlessly. Preserve your voice, and take a day off, whenever necessary.

4. Avoid substances of abuse

Substances of abuse are always addictive and damaging to your health. They can influence your mental alertness, cognitive abilities and could inflict harmful effects in your body.

Examples of these are alcohol, cigarettes and illicit drugs. Alcohol can destroy your body's ability to retain some vitamins; thus malnutrition can occur. It is also a Central Nervous System (CNS) depressant, affecting your memory and mental alertness.

You could forget the lyrics to your song, if you're under the influence of alcohol. You can lose track of time and space too. You would lose your muscle coordination and you may not be able to dance well, when intoxicated.

These are only a few of the immediate negative effects of alcohol. The long-term effect is even more serious – irreversible liver cirrhosis and eventual death.

Cigarettes affect primarily the lungs and could cause cancer of the lungs. The nicotine content of cigarettes could also damage your throat and vocal cords, affecting your voice.

Alcohol and cigarettes are the two most abused substances in the world and not everyone knows that they are addictive. They can cause fetal abnormalities in pregnant women as well.

As for illicit drugs, such as cocaine, morphine and the like, they can cause mental and physical dependence, and an array of harmful side effects to your body. You wouldn't want your singing career to be compromised even before you have started, would you?

Thus, avoid all these substances of abuse if you want to triumph as a singer.

5. Live a healthy lifestyle

Living a healthy lifestyle will help you maintain your good singing voice. This is because when your body is healthy, your voice would be ‘healthy' as well. You cannot perform well in instances when one part of your body aches.

You can live a healthy lifestyle by observing the following practices.

Sleep at least 8 hours a day. Take naps during the day, if you could not.

Take time to exercise regularly for at least 30 minutes a day, or 1 hour every other day.

Avoid alcohol, cigarette, illicit drugs, and too much coffee.

Sleep early and wake up early.

Eat breakfast. It's the most important meal of the day. As the cliché goes: “Breakfast like a king; eat lunch like a queen; and eat dinner like a pauper.”
Breakfast is where you derive your energy to start the day.

There will be times that you won't be in tip-top shape. You may experience sore throat or a damaged vocal cord. Here's what you can do.

1. Take a rest until you get well.

2. Have a complete bed rest.

You will have to rest in bed as well. Get a good sleep and rest your body comfortably in bed. A good rest of your mind and body could do wonders to your health.

3. Hydrate yourself adequately.

Again, this is vital to your recovery and good health. The body is composed of 70% to 80% water, so you have to maintain that percentage. You can also drink unsweetened fresh juice to hydrate yourself. Another option is to mix lemon juice with honey in a cup of ginger water.

Wash an inch slice of fresh ginger tube and crush it. Boil it with at least 2 cups of water and simmer until the essential nutrients are extracted from the ginger. Transfer to a suitable cup and add honey and lemon to taste. This is a warm soothing drink that can soother your sore throat.

4. Avoid alcohol, cigarettes, drugs and too much coffee.

As previously mentioned, these substances could aggravate your condition, especially that your immune system can be at its lowest. Instead of these substances, you can suck on lozenges instead.

5. Use a hot air steam inhalation.

You have to inhale or open your mouth and allow the steam to enter your throat. This process can speed up your recovery, as it can help heal damage to your throat. You can add soothing herbs, such as eucalyptus to the air steam mixture.

6. Avoid talking or straining your throat.

When your throat is sore, you should stop using your vocal cords. Whispering can still exert undue pressure on your throat. So, avoid anything that could strain your vocal cords. You can always write down what you want to say, or do sign language.

7. Consult your doctor.

If nothing of the above method works, you have to consult a throat specialist. Your condition may be serious, and you need to take in medications - or worse - undergo surgery. This would be a major setback to your singing career. In the event that you do, don't fret.

A number of singers were able to have successful comebacks after vocal cord surgeries. A few examples are Justin Timberlake, Keith Urban and the rock star, Rod Stewart.

8. When fully recuperated, get back into singing slowly.

You can hum first when getting back into action. Warm up your vocal cords for a few days until you're completely well. This can take weeks or even months. But, be patient because forcing your vocal cords into action when it is damaged can exacerbate your condition.

Taking care of your singing voice can be relatively easy when you know the proper techniques. You can simply follow the strategies discussed here, and you're well on your way to achieve your dream of becoming a singing superstar.

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